Pop newcomer Fefe Dobson grew up wishing she was white - because she was the only mixed race member of her family.

The teenage TAKE ME AWAY singer is the only child from her white mother's relationship with her black father and was brought up alongside her white step-sister.

And to make her feelings of isolation even worse, the redneck community the family lived in made continual jibes about her race to the other members of her family.

She recalls, "My sister would get teased over it and my mom couldn't get into the complex she wanted because of having a black daughter.

"Although my mom would say, 'Fefe, it's not your fault,' I would carry that burden as a child. I used to pray that my mom would be happier."

02/02/2004 09:29